Maybe
those cute and bubbly female anime characters aren't totally fictional.
Hirata Hiromi, the voice of Maggie Mui in R.O.D. the TV, acts just like most female anime characters, and she said that's just the way she is. "I
don't think it's really necessary at all, but it's not hard for me to
play a character like me when I play a role, it's like I'm opening
drawers of my own personality." Does Hiromi resemble the bibliophile
Maggie? "I think she's cute," she answered. Hiromi is much shorter than Maggie, and she's far from being as quiet - or as dedicated to books. "I doubt that I read as
much as Maggie does, but for this trip to California, I brought five
books to read." The big reading project Hiromi had for her R.O.D. role
was to read as much about the series, especially the original novels
and manga, as she could.
The
Maggie role was Hiromi's first animation lead role. She was attracted
to dub acting when she was a high school freshman. "I saw a movie
called `The Song of the Burning Angels on NHK," she said. "I was touched
by that movie and wanted to get involved in movies. I learned about
dubbing movies and said I wanted to do that. I didn't want to voice
act, but I wanted to be involved in dubbing movies." Many anime actors
also dub roles of prominent actors when the films are released in
Japan, and that's considered a performing career option. Ironically,
this Japanese actor who was interested in dubbing prefers
films in their original language and subtitled. That was Hiromi's response when she
was told that many English-speaking anime fans preferred the sound of
Japanese voices, even though they don't understand the language. "I''m
very happy to hear that," said Hiromi. "When I watch movies, I watch
them subbed first and then I watch them dubbed for training purposes.
I'm very happy that American fans feel the same way that I feel."
Maybe
those cute and bubbly female anime characters aren't totally fictional.
Hirata Hiromi, the voice of Maggie Mui in R.O.D. the TV, acts just like most female anime characters, and she said that's just the way she is. "I
don't think it's really necessary at all, but it's not hard for me to
play a character like me when I play a role, it's like I'm opening
drawers of my own personality." Does Hiromi resemble the bibliophile
Maggie? "I think she's cute," she answered. Hiromi is much shorter than Maggie, and she's far from being as quiet - or as dedicated to books. "I doubt that I read as
much as Maggie does, but for this trip to California, I brought five
books to read." The big reading project Hiromi had for her R.O.D. role
was to read as much about the series, especially the original novels
and manga, as she could. 
The
Maggie role was Hiromi's first animation lead role. She was attracted
to dub acting when she was a high school freshman. "I saw a movie
called `The Song of the Burning Angels on NHK," she said. "I was touched
by that movie and wanted to get involved in movies. I learned about
dubbing movies and said I wanted to do that. I didn't want to voice
act, but I wanted to be involved in dubbing movies." Many anime actors
also dub roles of prominent actors when the films are released in
Japan, and that's considered a performing career option. Ironically,
this Japanese actor who was interested in dubbing prefers
films in their original language and subtitled. That was Hiromi's response when she
was told that many English-speaking anime fans preferred the sound of
Japanese voices, even though they don't understand the language. "I''m
very happy to hear that," said Hiromi. "When I watch movies, I watch
them subbed first and then I watch them dubbed for training purposes.
I'm very happy that American fans feel the same way that I feel."
